All Society of Pension Professionals articles – Page 3
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News
Mercer launches DB master trust as demand for consolidation increases
Mercer has launched a new defined benefit master trust promising sponsors enhanced governance and economies of scale, amid an accelerating trend towards consolidation and outsourced solutions, with pensions minister Guy Opperman stating that “bigger is better”.
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Ombudsman decision sets financial loss precedent
A recent Pensions Ombudsman determination has opened the floodgates for financial loss claims resulting from the mere possibility of missing out on stock market profit, due to trustees being tardy in processing transfers.
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Covid-19 adds £10bn to inflation woes
As the government’s consultation to make changes to the retail price index draws to a close, the impact of aligning the inflation measure with the consumer price index including housing costs has increased by £10bn due to the pandemic.
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Industry leaders’ plea to ministers over FCA advice trap
Leaders of pensions industry representative groups have written a joint complaint to government ministers over new guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority, which they warn could see helpful trustees deemed to be giving regulated financial advice.
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Industry bodies lobby government to change insolvency bill
Pensions industry bodies are lobbying the government to make changes to the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill, which unless revised will “inevitably lead to more pensioners not receiving their benefits in full and greater strain on the Pension Protection Fund”.
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OpinionIndustry must not be defeatist on dashboards
Paul McGlone’s last op-ed as president of the Society of Pension Professionals sees him make an impassioned plea not to abandon hope and impetus behind the dashboards project, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to solve the industry’s engagement problem.
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DB schemes to face major data exercise for dashboards
New requirements to translate defined benefit pensions into an annual income in today’s terms could mean trustees and administrators face a major data exercise to comply with the pensions dashboards, according to experts.
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Professionals support switch to CPIH with no compensation
On the go: More than a third of pension professionals support a switch from the retail price index to the consumer price index incorporating owner occupier housing costs with no compensation, new research shows.
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Auto-enrolment process creates 'employee underclass'
Three out of four pensions professionals say employers should be free to statutorily enrol any employee they wish, even if current auto-enrolment age and earnings criteria are not met.
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OpinionNew year, new attitude to ESG compliance?
Happy New Year, the world is burning. While readers will doubtless have tried to take a step back from work as the second-hottest year in recorded history came to a close, it will have been tougher to disregard footage of Australia’s south-east being engulfed in flames.
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News
Trustees sitting on hands over ESG investment
On the go: A new survey has raised serious doubts as to whether pension funds will take meaningful action in the short term on sustainable investment issues, despite new regulations coming into force in October.
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Lancashire hails portfolio's positive impact on local area
The Lancashire County Council Pension Fund, which has invested £200m in its local community since 2013, has become an industry trailblazer amid growing interest in social impact investments.
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PodcastsPodcast: A closer look at DB consolidation
Podcast: Last month, the government published a consultation on the consolidation of defined benefit pension schemes. What is the outlook for DB superfunds? And what should trustees consider if they are thinking about switching from a sponsor covenant to a consolidator covenant? In this episode, Alex Hutton-Mills, managing director at Lincoln Pensions, and Paul McGlone, president of the Society of Pension Professionals, discuss the consultation and whether early adopter nerves are holding back inflows to the new DB consolidators.
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Government fires ‘starting gun’ on superfund deals
A government consultation published last week will allow the UK’s commercial defined benefit consolidators to press ahead with their first deals, it has been claimed, although some experts say questions remain over how the businesses can be prudently regulated.
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News
FTSE 100 DB risk drops nearly a quarter
The aggregate risk across FTSE 100 defined benefit schemes has fallen to its lowest level in four years, according to research that seeks to integrate covenant and investment risk.
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OpinionSurplus poses opportunities and challenges for PPF
The Pension Protection Fund’s surplus has the power to significantly alter the fortunes of the UK’s defined benefit members and employers, writes Society of Pension Professionals president Paul McGlone, but deciding when, how and to whom to distribute it will prove an intriguing challenge.
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OpinionIDWG cost disclosures are only the beginning
The code submitted by Chris Sier’s working group on cost disclosure should make a material and positive difference to the industry, writes the Society of Pension Professionals’ president Paul McGlone, but schemes have an obligation to make use of this new information.
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OpinionSmall schemes should not pin hopes on consolidators
Consolidators looking to profit from pensions look to have government support, says the Society of Pension Professionals’ Paul McGlone, but those schemes in most desperate need of access to scale are unlikely to make attractive business.
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OpinionWhy pension pros need to keep it simple
The Society of Pension Professionals’ Hugh Nolan on why it is important to keep pensions information clear and simple.
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NewsFines for DB negligence leave industry split
Employers who wilfully or recklessly put their defined benefit pension schemes at risk are in the firing line of new punitive fines announced in a government policy statement released on Monday.